For more than 40 years, Gordon Lightfoot’s songs have shaped our sense of Canada like no national anthem ever could. Early on, his status rose from that of a fledging folk crooner to national icon by way of staunch, stirring ballads like “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy.”

In April, Lightfoot sets off on a 12-city Canadian tour, which will feature a quarter of the 60 North American shows he has planned in 2009. At 70, after recovering from recent health setbacks, Lightfoot shows no sign of giving up the touring life that feeds his soul, or his songs, which continue to define distinctly Canadian places like Christian Island, a mean-and-lean Yonge Street and Alberta’s Rocky Mountain sunsets.

On the road and at home, Lightfoot finds the sublime in the subtle, gathering inspiration from across the land—whether it’s canoeing routes near Yellowknife, N.W.T., or his hometown roots of Orillia, Ontario.
 
“I passed through Yellowknife on three or four different occasions when I would be leaving to go on canoe trips. Yellowknife would be the last civilization that you would see for about four or five weeks.

“I remember being up there during the equinox around the end of June and getting started around the start of July when it was never dark. The tent would be bathed in sunlight as it spun around the horizon.

“I did all these trips in the ’70s, and the people lived in such well-appointed trailer splendour. There was a lot of trailer living up there at the time, and probably still is. When we would pass through, we would be welcomed to their trailer homes. There was one person who had two trailers set up in a little ‘L’ shape, with a courtyard in the middle.

“It’s so surprising—there’s hardly any vegetation up there whatsoever. You’re almost up above the boreal forest. We always made sure we went at the warmest time of the year. The temperature could drop a lot sometimes during the wee small hours. Not cold enough that it would freeze, though.

“I wrote my song, ‘Shadows,’ while I was paddling. I can actually remember the moment I finished it—right where I was on the river. It was a very quiet, long stretch of river with very little current. We were paddling about 10 in the morning and there were trout leaping all around us.

“Many of my songs come from me growing up in Orillia, [including] ‘Pussy Willows, Cat Tails,’ ‘The Long River’ and ‘Did She Mention My Name?’ A whole bunch of songs came from reaching back into my growing-up years, my adolescent years and when I sang in competition.

“I don’t get back up [to Orillia] as often as I’d like. I sometimes do go up to appear at the Mariposa Folk Festival, and I will probably end up buried there. I love it. It has everything that a person needed to grow up with—sports and music and the whole thing, and it’s still a great little spot. It’s got a beautiful lake, Lake Couchiching.

“I have an auditorium named after me there—the opera house. They did that and I said, ‘Oh well, that’ll be okay,’ so I put on my suit and we got the ceremony over with. And there it is, the Gordon Lightfoot Auditorium.”

Photo: Peter Beens